Judith Miller admits her role in WMD reports, No senior official spoon fed me a line about WMD, George Bush did not lie, Bush and senior officials cited intelligence community’s incorrect conclusions, “The Story: A Reporter’s Journey,”

Judith Miller admits her role in WMD reports, No senior official spoon fed me a line about WMD, George Bush did not lie, Bush and senior officials cited intelligence community’s incorrect conclusions, “The Story: A Reporter’s Journey,”

“If I had my choice I would kill every reporter in the world but I am sure we would be getting reports from hell before breakfast.”… William Tecumseh Sherman

“The (American) press, which is mostly controlled by vested
interests, has an excessive influence on public opinion.”… Albert Einstein

“The function of the press is very high. It is almost Holy.
It ought to serve as a forum for the people, through which
the people may know freely what is going on. To misstate or
suppress the news is a breach of trust.”…. Louis D. Brandeis

OK, I had some help from a duplicitous vice president, Dick Cheney. Then there was George W. Bush, a gullible president who could barely locate Iraq on a map and who wanted to avenge his father and enrich his friends in the oil business. And don’t forget the neoconservatives in the White House and the Pentagon who fed cherry-picked intelligence about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, or WMD, to reporters like me.

None of these assertions happens to be true, though all were published and continue to have believers. This is not how wars come about, and it is surely not how the war in Iraq occurred. Nor is it what I did as a reporter for the New York Times. These false narratives deserve, at last, to be retired.

There was no shortage of mistakes about Iraq, and I made my share of them. The newsworthy claims of some of my prewar WMD stories were wrong. But so is the enduring, pernicious accusation that the Bush administration fabricated WMD intelligence to take the country to war. Before the 2003 invasion, President Bush and other senior officials cited the intelligence community’s incorrect conclusions about Saddam’s WMD capabilities and, on occasion, went beyond them. But relying on the mistakes of others and errors of judgment are not the same as lying.

I have never met George W. Bush. I never discussed the war with Dick Cheney until the winter of 2012, years after he had left office and I had left the Times. I wish I could have interviewed senior officials before the war about the role that WMDs played in the decision to invade Iraq. The White House’s passion for secrecy and aversion to the media made that unlikely. Less senior officials were of help as sources, but they didn’t make the decisions.

No senior official spoon-fed me a line about WMD. That would have been so much easier than uncovering classified information that officials can be jailed for disclosing. My sources were the same counterterrorism, arms-control and Middle East analysts on whom I had relied for my stories about Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda’s growing threat to America—a series published eight months before 9/11 for which the Times staff, including me, won a Pulitzer.”

“The CIA repeatedly assured President Bush that Saddam Hussein still had WMD. Foreign intelligence agencies, even those whose nations opposed war, shared this view. And so did Congress. Over the previous 15 years, noted Stuart Cohen, the former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council, none of the congressional committees routinely briefed on Iraqi WMD assessments expressed concern about bias or error.”

15 responses to “Judith Miller admits her role in WMD reports, No senior official spoon fed me a line about WMD, George Bush did not lie, Bush and senior officials cited intelligence community’s incorrect conclusions, “The Story: A Reporter’s Journey,””

The Iraqi Liberation Act of 1998 was signed by BILL CLINTON, not George Bush, who simply invoked Clinton’s law.

In this Act, Saddam Hussein and his government in Iraq was declared a serious threat to the security of the United States; Saddam and his government was to be overthrown and replaced with a democratic government friendly to the US; money was appropriated for this purpose, etc.

In Hillary’s speech before the Senate, she pledged full support of our invasion of Iraq and the disposal of Saddam.

And there were WMDs, they were not admitted to because most of them were in USA packages. ISIS captured a chemical plant north of Baghdad which brought some of this to light.

Nothing coming from the liberal left can be believed, it’s like “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, and you will save $2500.00 per year”.

CW……
……it is not ONLY THE PRESS,it is the entire LAME STREAM MEDIA,who have themselves have PERVERTED the entire industry. Now they are caught between a rock and a hard place, and have no idea whatsoever what to do about it……..and their dilemma grows more perilous as each day passes,and they will continue to LIE to the public,and twist the news to make it sound like innocent Christian people are the offenders.
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The filthey screams of the SOWS,and BOARS WHO RESIDE IN the town of QUEERSVILLE,continues unabated. You can smell their unwashed, disease infected bodies long before you see them. They parade their slimey ,and stinking bodies up and down Main St.USA, hoping for confrontations which they can call HARRASSMENT,or DISCRIMINATION……and they will be immediately believed by the LAME MEDIA,and the police. Yet there has been enough right sided people send money to the Christian Walkerton folks which has to date amounted to over $500,000.00….har har…. reminds me of the Chic Fillet thing. My hat is off the right sided people, who probably are Christians……..and by the way, I PRAY THAT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THE SICK,TWISTED SEXUAL DEVIATES CONTRACT FULL BLOWN AIDS. I WILL THOROUGHLY ENJOY WATCHING THEM WRITH IN PAIN AS THEY LAY UPON THEIR DEATH BEDat age 40. It is easy to see why our Marines at Camp Pendleton, Calif. declared open season on them in the 1950s.
Sadly the proprietors of the pizza restaurant have been forced into hiding. I say to them STAND UP,PICK UP A WEAPON IF NECESSARY, AND SEND AS MANY OF THEM AS YOU CAN TO THE ER…..BUT KEEP IN MIND “THEY MUST STRIKE THE FIRST BLOW. Just GOAD them a little,or until they lose control of their minds….. after which you are free to DEFEND YOUSELVES….as such.

Happy Easter to all of the Citizen Wells patriots. May peace find your hearts, your homes and our country.
I just made two coconut cream pies, two Key lime pies and 24 deviled eggs.
The ham, cole slaw, spinach salad, asparagus and Mac and cheese will be fixed tomorrow.
Celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord!

HRMFC………
We must never lose our love of Jesus! We might have different viewpoints about our Lord,or how we worship,or when,but in the final analysis we all worship the SAME GOD.
On Easter we need to feel an extra reverence toward Jesus,and those around us,by opening our hearts,minds and souls. Even if we do this one day each year it is far better than NO DAYS.

…….has anyone ever heard of HOT CROSSED BUNS? During my childhood no Good Friday,or EASTER ever passed without them. In reality they have little religous significance,but were largely a tradition with some folks whose heritage lies in England. There was also an associated NURSERY RHYME. Some folks made, and consumed them on Good Friday.

Christianity is now under attack more than ever……not only from the Islamic maniacs,but from within as well. In America the persecution originates with people having diminished intellectual capacity,who have been TAUGHT HATRED,by their PEERS, along with the so called GAY,and Lesbian community. Such people CANNOT be Christians.